When Zuzana Majorva, a 23-year-old Czech porn star, was flown to an island off the coast of Spain to model for a group of middle-aged, amateur photographers, she expected the usual — to arch her back, tilt her hips, and gaze into the camera, upon command.

But she found love.

Majorva fell for Frederick Light, a 30-year-old amateur filmmaker from Kingston, Ont. Their chance encounter in 2005 would rescue her from an X-rated career and turn her into a fitness star with her own You Tube channel — Bodyrock.Tv.

On any given day, half a million people tune in to watch Zuzana sweating through push-ups, squats and burpies, while her husband coaches and jokes from behind the camera.

Filmed mainly in an unfinished apartment living room in Kingston, the show’s content ranges from workouts to confessional talks on such topics as weight loss and sobriety.

Since they started in 2008, viewer loyalty has made Bodyrock.Tv one of the most popular YouTube channels in Canada. The videos have been watched 400 million times — 40 times the population of the Czech Republic.

It has a cultish audience of mostly female followers, who call themselves Bodyrockers, and consider Zuzana, a busty, doe-eyed woman described in the New York Times as “abdominally flawless,” an inspiration and even a friend.

Though they declined to disclose their financial information, Wendy Rozeluk, a spokesperson for YouTube, told the Star that hundreds of partners like Bodyrock are making “six figures a year.”

This summer, when Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment company whose star roster includes Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney, signed them as a client, it seemed to be the perfect ending to the corporate fairy tale.

However, success came with a price. “We’ve become, over the process of building this business together, more like friends,” said Freddy.

Now, their strained relationship could mean the end of their brand.

In October, the couple abruptly announced they would separate. After filming some 600 workouts, Zuzana will not be leading them anymore, and instead will concentrate on the site’s lifestyle components, such as recipes and travel.

The couple developed Bodyrock.Tv as a kind of reality show. But unlike Jersey Shore or the Bachelor, shows premised on human frailty, they crafted the Bodyrock message as an aspirational one: anyone can, like Zuzana, build a better life through exercise.

“It was an incredibly humiliating situation,” Zuzana has said about her porn career in Eastern Europe. “Working on fitness helped me heal emotionally and rebuild my sense of self worth.”

Born in Prague to a single mother, Zuzana dropped out of business college at 18 and fell into adult entertainment. She has written that her choice “led to years of darkness and abuse” and almost ruined her life.

She was saved, in a way, when she met Freddy. “He was way more different than any other boy I met before,” she said, “he was really nice to me.”

They married in 2007 in a castle outside Prague, and began Bodyrock.Tv soon after, splitting their time between working at Blaney’s Florists, Freddy’s family’s shop in Kingston, and shooting videos with a camera and laptop.

The free workouts last less than 20 minutes, and have cheeky names: “My Buns Hurt Workout,” “Grab Your Balls Workout” and ‘All I want for Christmas is Abs Workout.”

But it was the couple’s intimacy that set Bodyrock. Tv apart from other home exercise competition. By July 2008, their videos hit a million views and they were partnering with YouTube, untapping a lucrative future.

The first day’s revenue was a modest 60 cents; a year later, after Bodyrock. Tv had reached 100 million views, they were making hundreds of dollars a week.

When they announced their breakup and the end of Zuzana’s reign as host, fans were shocked. More than 700 of them commented on the breakup post. “I was sick to my stomach,” said Jamie McNary, a 35-year-old mother in Utah, “it was just heart wrenching.”

The Lights have yet to officially file for a divorce, but plan to meet face-to-face in December. In the interim, they will introduce fresh personalities, including new fitness hosts and Freddy’s brother, Sean, to Bodyrock.Tv — testing the commitment of fans.

“I’m not as sexy as Zuzana,” says Jessica Cudley, 23, a Western University political science graduate and one of Bodyrock.Tv’s new hosts. But, she said, “People realize it’s not just about a sexy body or a sexy person on camera.”

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